When All Else Fails
by MAAM
Summary: Maureen, the perky-yet unluky-one. Vivian, the vivacious flirt. And Anna, the sensible one. Yet somehow, they all seem to get along. Now all at Hogwarts, they learn a few more lessons in life. But what if one of those lessons was in love? Please R/R!
1. The Train

~ Okay, this story starts off right after Maureen and Anna get to Platform 9 ¾.  
  
"Hogwarts, here I come!" Maureen said, charging into the platform 9 ¾. Unfortunately, on the way in she tripped and fell flat on her bum. Mostly due to her freakishly bad luck.  
  
"You need any help?" A bright red haired girl stuck out a hand to her.  
  
"Thanks. I'm Maureen, I'm new this year." She said, flipping back her blonde hair. "Oh, and this is Anna." She pointed to a girl with strawberry blonde hair, who was walking with ease across the cobblestone path.  
  
"Hello." Anna smiled and waved at the girl. Her suitcase in one hand, and a cat cage in the other. "This is Tabitha. My Cat. No, it's my plastic lamp." Anna said sarcastically, as a pair of green eyes peered out from the maroon colored cat cage.  
  
"Hi, I'm Ginny." She grinned at her, and then followed another red haired boy inside the train.  
  
"This is it." Anna sighed. "Our new school." She beamed at the train, and followed Ginny.  
  
"Wait for me!" Maureen called behind her, as she fell backwards by the top- heavy weight of her colossal suitcase. She fell straight onto a cute boy.  
  
"Excuse me." He said casually, eyeing her with cold gray eyes. He shook his head, and trotted inside with a boy three times the size as him.  
  
"Anna? Where are you?" Maureen asked, her voice echoing down the empty hallway.  
  
"Maureen! In here!" Anna stuck out an arm. Maureen followed it inside a compartment with a few guys. "I just met some guys." She said dully.  
  
"Hi." They all chimed in together.  
  
"This is Harry, Ron, Neville." She pointed to each one, and was pleased at herself for memorizing their names. "They are quite a boring bunch, eh?" Anna laughed at herself.  
  
"Hello everyone!" A bushy haired girl traipsed into the booth. Her teeth were crooked, and she looked like she'd gotten into a fight with her cat.  
  
"Lo' Hermione." Ron said, and offered a seat by him.  
  
"This is beyond boring. I'm gone." Anna said, waving listlessly and joining a group of girls at another booth. But it was sort of true. Neither Anna nor Maureen knew of a single thing they were discussing about. Just as well, that Hermione was starting to get on their nerves.  
  
"Hello! Do I know you?" A girl with curly brown hair walked up to Anna asked.  
  
"Vivian?" Anna squealed, hugging her tightly. Vivian was her old friend from her Muggle Elementary School. "I thought you moved!"  
  
"Well I did, and now that I'm in England, I got transferred to Hogwarts! Oh, I'm so glad we've met again." Anna led Vivian back into the booth, where Ron and Maureen were engaging in a meaningful conversation about plastic lamps.  
  
"Okay, The Boring Bunch, this is Vivian." Anna sat her down next to Harry, as she beamed at them all. Although, after dropping off Vivian, she quickly headed over to a girl compartment to change. Anyway, there was most definitely going to be some flirting, and she didn't feel comfortable around that. As soon as Anna left, Vivian started to put on her charm.  
  
"Hi guys." She smiled flirtatiously and waved.  
  
"Hi!" Maureen said a little too loudly.  
  
"Um. Hi?" The one named Harry said. Ron quickly spoke up.  
  
"Hi, what's you name?" Ron looked dreamily at Vivian.  
  
"Vivian. But everyone calls me Viv." She explained. After that she went into a detailed explanation of how she got her name. This bored everyone, and they all partially wished they had followed Anna. The only one interested was Ron, but obviously he wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying.  
  
"Come on guys, snacks are right outside." Anna waved at them all. "Like the uniforms, Maureen?" Anna twirled around in hers, and laughed as the fabric spun around her.  
  
"I haven't tried them yet. Just a second." Maureen quickly bounded to a changing room, and slipped on her new robes. They fit like a dream. "These are wonderful! Much better then red itchy wool." She sighed at the memory. Anna quickly moved back into the safe habitat of her compartment.  
  
"If it isn't the American klutz." An English voice whispered. Maureen turned around; it was the gray-eyed boy.  
  
"Leave her alone, Malfoy." Hermione said eyes silted.  
  
"Move over, Granger." He said coldly, then pushed open the door of Anna's compartment. Anna looked out the window and sighed. She kind of missed home.  
  
"Hey, mind if I sit here?" He asked politely.  
  
"No. Not really." Anna said vaguely. She didn't mind. As long as she had someone to talk to. She looked outside the train, watching the scenery move by. She looked over at the pair of gray eyes what was observing her. "Um." She couldn't really think of anything to say. She hadn't been in this situation before.  
  
"You slimy weasel! Don't bother her." Hermione tugged on Draco's sleeve.  
  
"Why don't you sit down, Hermione? We were just having a lovely conversation about 'Um'." He mocked her, and laughed.  
  
"Is he like that all the time?" Anna asked, still shaken up.  
  
"Afraid so. Just don't pay attention to him. He flirts with every girl." She sighed, and sat down. 


	2. The Sorting

Maureen bounded up the hallway towards the sorting hat, knocking over 1st years that were in her path. Anna rolled her eyes and Vivian chuckled. Maureen was so bumptious sometimes. She sat on the chair, eyes sparkling merrily and her face flushed from laughing. Vivian and Anna stood frozen to the spot, waiting for her to be sorted.  
  
"GRYFINNDOR!" The hat bellowed and Maureen grinned to her friends as she ran over to the applauding Gryfinndor table. She sat herself next to Ginny as she anticipated the sorting of her friends.  
  
Vivian gracefully walked up towards the stool and sat down as the hat was placed on her head.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!" Vivian smiled at Anna and Maureen as she joined her fellow Ravenclaws. Anna casually walked up towards the stool as though she was just turning out a lamp that was shining too brightly. She yawned and sat on the stool as the hat was too placed on her head.  
  
  
  
"SLYTHERIN!" Anna shrugged and walked towards the table and sat next to Millicent Bullstrode. She waved at Maureen and Vivian who smiled and waved back. Vivian began talking with Akoto Yang, who was about as obsessed with Anime as Vivian. Anna began talking to Millicent about cats while Maureen talked to Ginny about how lame it was to be the youngest sometimes since they both had large families.  
  
"You're lucky that you have people closer to your age," said Maureen sadly as she remembered how her sister Meg always picked on her about guys she liked and stuff along those lines. Though Maureen was an optimist, despite her bad luck, and she knew that Meg would one day stop picking on her. Personally I, the author, seriously doubt that. Anna began to think that Millicent was actually pretty nice, despite her mean appearance. She was having an excellent conversation with her about cat breeds. Vivian was engrossed in her Anime discussion with Akoto and Maureen and Ginny were talking about their sibling troubles. All and all they were having a pretty good night even though both Anna and Maureen shot glances towards a certain Slytherin during dinner. Anna had the advantage since they were in the same house but Maureen still had her flirting skills that she had kicked up a notch during her hours at the local pool. Vivian was however too busy to notice any guys since she and Akoto began talking about Marmalade Boy and began debating on what was the best book.  
  
Maureen grinned and stood up.  
  
"Hey Anna! Guess what? HEP!" Maureen yelled across the room. Anna broke into fits of laughter over their inside joke as people stared at Maureen. What the hell was HEP?  
  
"Yeah Maureen! It's pretty HEPPY over here!" Anna called back. Maureen giggled and sat back down. She obviously meant Draco. Dinner appeared before them and Maureen practically dove into her food. People raised eyebrows but then laughed at Maureen's perkiness. Anna just served herself a sensible amount and ate slowly, still conversing with Millicent. Vivian barely ate anything, for now her conversation was onto Gundam Wing, she only served herself a meager amount of food and barely touched it.  
  
Harry watched Maureen with amusement as she inhaled the food and quickly grabbed the last piece of cake.  
  
"Um excuse me, you can slow down," said Harry as he tapped Maureen on the shoulder.  
  
Maureen merely nodded but couldn't utter a word out of her mouth since it was full of chocolate cake. Maureen smiled a cakey smile at Harry and continued eating.  
  
"What kind of cat do you have Millicent?" Anna asked as she served herself some more corn.  
  
"I have a orange tabby, his name is Archibald" said Millicent cheerfully as she wiped custard away from her mouth.  
  
"Oh I have a calico, her name is Nuprin," Anna smiled. Good ol' Nuprin.  
  
"Yeah well I like Tenshi Muyo better," said Vivian in a heated debate with Akoto.  
  
"I think that Chobits is superior to Tenchi," said Akoto forcefully as she stuffed some peas into her mouth.  
  
Everyone was enjoying themselves greatly. Soon they had to retire to their common rooms. Maureen was having a pretty good night, even though she tripped a few times but hey it all good! Vivian was afraid earlier that she wouldn't be able to find someone that enjoyed Anime as much as she did. Luckily she found Akoto and they became fast friends. Anna and Millicent had an extremely pleasant tête-à-tête.   
  
"Yeah I know, the only person I get along with is Sarah and she's about 17 years older then I am," said Maureen to Ginny as the walked towards the corridor.  
  
"Erin is pretty cool but I haven't seen much of her since she's on her own and Abbie-" Maureen wasn't able to finish she sentence because her freakishly bad luck got into the way and she tripped right into that "certain gray-eyed Slytherin."  
  
"Oh oops! I'm sorry! My freakishly bad luck made me trip again," said Maureen cheerfully as she helped herself up. Ginny groaned.  
  
"Hello ferret boy," Ginny shot him a glare. Malfoy pretended he didn't hear her.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. Just watch where you're going next time Blondie," said Malfoy as he brushed off his robes and walked away. Maureen eyes followed him until he turned a corner and was gone.  
  
"Yeah, that was Malfoy. Bad news," said Ginny warningly.  
  
"Hey Vi, what did you think about that guy that I bumped into?" Maureen asked as she walked alongside Vivian and Anna.  
  
"Yeah he's sorta cute I guess," said Anna casually, hands in her pockets.  
  
"Come on Anna! He's not "sort of" cute, he's hot!" Vivian squealed as she and Maureen began jabbering on and on about how gorgeous he is. Anna rolled her eyes and they went their separate ways. Maureen went to the right, Anna went to the left and Vivian and went straight.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sleep came easy for the trio. Nurpin was able to make Anna feel more at home so she was able to fall asleep. Vivian fell asleep reading Marmalade Boy and Maureen just fell asleep fantasying a love life and dreamt of dancing ferrets and weasels. It was soon morning and they quickly dressed in their robes and hurried downstairs. Maureen, who could never miss out on a good breakfast, was there first eating Belgian waffles.   
  
They waved at her and sat at their tables to serve themselves some eggs and bacon.  
  
"Hey," a suave voice called behind Maureen as she spun around to see who it was . . . 


End file.
